Present efforts to control tuberculosis have achieved some success but the disease is still one of the biggest global health threats; some 9.2 million new TB cases and 1.7 million TB-related deaths were reported in 2006.

The Stop TB Partnership launched in 2006 its “Global Plan to Stop TB”. The plan seeks to improve case detection and treatment through methods such as community-based case detection, improved diagnosis and management of patients with respiratory symptoms due to TB, and improved collaboration between the public and private health sectors. But would the benefits of the additional effort outweigh the costs?

An epidemiological and economic study (1) focusing on sub-Saharan Africa concludes that the cost:benefit ratio would vary considerably between countries but but that benefits would be “unambiguously greater than the incremental costs in all nine high-burden countries in Africa and in Afghanistan”.

In sub-Saharan Africa when the Global Plan is compared to continuing the current anti-TB strategy, the benefits of the Global Plan would outweigh its costs by a ratio of 9 to 1.

Reference
1. Laxminarayan R, Klein EY, Darley S, Adeyi O (2009). Global Investments In Tuberculosis Control: Economic Benefits. Health Aff (Millwood); Jun 30. [Epub ahead of print]